I now know all about Sheykh Seleem, and why he sits naked on the river bank; from very high authority—­a great Sheykh to whom it has been revealed.  He was entrusted with the care of some of the holy she camels, like that on which the Prophet rode to Jerusalem in one night, and which are invisible to all but the elect, and he lost one, and now he is God’s prisoner till she is found.

A letter from aunt Charley all about her own and Rainie’s country life, school feasts etc., made me quite cry, and brought before me—­oh, how vividly—­the difference between East and West, not quite all to the advantage of home however, though mostly.  What is pleasant here is the primitive ways.  Three times since I have been here lads of most respectable families of Luxor have come to ask hospitality, which consists in a place on the deck of the boat, and liberty to dip their bread in the common dish with my slave boy and Achmet.  The bread they brought with them, ‘bread and shelter’ were not asked, as they slept sub dio.  In England I must have refused the hospitality, on account of gene and expense.  The chief object to the lads was the respectability of being under my eye while away from their fathers, as a satisfaction to their families; and while they ate and slept like beggars, as we should say, they read their books and chatted with me, when I was out on the deck, on perfectly equal terms, only paying the respect proper to my age.  I thought of the ‘orphanages and institutions’ and all the countless difficulties of that sort, and wondered whether something was not to be said for this absence of civilization in knives, forks, beds, beer, and first and second tables above all.  Of course climate has a good deal to do with the facility with which widows and orphans are absorbed here.

Goodbye dearest Mutter:  to-day is post day, and Reis Mohammed is about to trudge into town in such a dazzling white turban and such a grand black robe.  His first wife, whom he was going to divorce for want of children, has brought him a son, and we jeer him a little about what he may find in Luxor from the second, and wish him a couple of dozen.

October 15, 1866:  Sir Alexander Duff Gordon

To Sir Alexander Duff Gordon.  CAIRO, October 15, 1866.

Dearest Alick,

I have been back in my own boat four days, and most comfortable she is.  I enlarged the saloon, and made a good writing table, and low easy divans instead of benches, and added a sort of pantry and sleeping cabin in front; so that Omar has not to come through the saloon to sleep; and I have all the hareem part to myself.  Inside there is a good large stern cabin, and wash-closet and two small cabins with beds long enough even for you.  Inshallah, you and Maurice will come next winter and go up the Nile and enjoy it with me.  I intend to sail in ten days and to send back the ‘Urania’ to seek work for the winter.  We had a very narrow escape of being flooded this year.  I fear a deal of damage has been done to the dourrah and cotton crops.  It was sad to see the villagers close by here trying to pull up a little green dourrah as the Nile slowly swallowed up the fields.